Unusual Odd-ball Ways to Make Money

Thank you Gordon for that explanation about George Hayling.....

Even the "older" ways of making money are fun to read about, I think! And I'm sure many would still work today.... :)

I'm pretty interested in "odd-ball" ways to make money.... I guess that's one reason why I love to read about your experiences!

I have one interesting book on money-making ideas from the late 1960s.... The book is "How to Succeed in Business Before Graduating" by Peter Sandman and Dan Goldenson (published in 1968)....

I picked it up at a second-hand bookstore a couple years ago....

It has all these stories of how college students were making money during their studies.... Some of them are quite creative and could still work today!

Here's one of the odd-ball stories, about selling advertising to local store-owners near the college....

A student at Northeast Louisiana State College in Monroe, Louisiana, has already discovered an advertising gimmick with fantastic profit potential. For $40 he purchased a broken-down, battered hearse from a nearby funeral home. A do-it-yourself car wash and a three-dollar battery put the limousine in shape for business. He marked off the surface of the car into fifteen available areas, then sold advertising space for up to $15 per area per month. The ads were painted on with shoe polish, and nearly all were based on themes connected with the hearse. Examples are: "Had to Use This Because I Didn't Buy from Medical Arts Pharmacy"; "You Will Not Need This If You Eat at Ray's"; "You Are Dead Right at ...." And so on.

The advantages of the Hearse Advertising Company were immediately clear to local tradesmen. Complicated college regulations governing on-campus advertising did not apply to the hearse, which was private property. And since it was registered as its owner's official business car, it could be parked anywhere on campus. The novelty of the vehicle added to the cleverness of the ads written on it, guaranteed that every passer-by would take a look. By moving the hearse from place to place a few times a day, the agency also guaranteed that nearly every student would be a passery-by nearly every day. These factors, combined with low monthly rates, made the hearse a uniquely desirable advertising medium. In a very short time the agency had to invest in a second limousine, this one for $25.

The Hearse Stunt Company was formed to take the cars where the crowds were -- pep rallies, ball games, even drag strips. Dressing up as monsters, a student group known as "The Undertakers" won a local drag race in the agency's 1953 Cadillac hearse. The act was so successful that the group has since contracted the stunt to other drag strips. With a few modifications, it served as an ideal promotional gimmick for drive-in theaters featuring horror movies.

But even without these sidelines, a hearse advertising agency should net a few thousand dollars a year on just about any college campus. Fifteen dollars a month per ad is a very low figure for this unique mobile billboard; in most parts of the country you could get $20 or $25 without much difficulty. Fifteen ads at $20 a month comes to $300 a month -- for each hearse. With two cars in operation, you can clean up $600 a month, minus the cost of shoepolish. Even for a hearse, that's quite a killing. (p. 143-144)

I bet this would still work today for some enterprising college student, if you just updated the costs and profits.... :)

Of course, it wouldn't have to be a hearse.... If you could get some other kind of unusual attention-getting car, it could work too!

I guess if you're not attracted to starting a dot-com, a college student could try this!

Dien Rice